Countdown: less than one week

Sorry for the delay in posting. There are many reasons for not posting sooner. For one, I have had a sinus infection-so anytime that I haven't been working I have most likely been sleeping. Also, things for me personally have been going very well- however things with other people and things with China have been pretty frustrating the last few days. But I guess it's time to just push myself to write.

First of all training is going really well. My boss, Wendy, have been great. Since there isn't really anything to do she has us coming in every other day in shifts. It was great timing with me not feeling so hot. Every day I went in this week I got sent home after lunch because of my lovely coughing (mom I used lovely just for you). The chinese students I'm working with are great, they are so helpful and always so energetic to learn and ask questions. They always apologize for their lack of english- but I try to explain to them I'm just so thankful they are patient and try with me. I'm the one not speaking the language- if we were in america people would have a fit if they didn't speak english. I have to say that it wasn't that hard the first few weeks, we always had a translator with us and people are always willing to help. But the longer we stay here its more and more frustrating to not know the language.

Today we (Matt, Mark, Allie and I) decided since we all have the same day off (prob. the last for the rest of the trip) we would take a day trip. We took the bullet train (2 days old) down to Tianjin which is the 3rd largest city in China behind Beijing and Shanghai. First let me say that the train ride was worth it. It went up to 350 km per hour and we went about 180 miles in 30 minutes. We all decided that the U.S. needs this- esp. between St. Louis and Como! Let me just say the language barrier was very prevalent today. It wasn't too smart of us to just get on a train and not know anything about the city or have a map- but it turned out. The city itself was amazing and very different from Beijing. It has a lot of European influence from days it was occupied by the Dutch, France, and England. We found our way (somehow) to the center of the town where there were lots of shops. We then made our way to one of the most amazing Catholic Churches I've ever been in. I will post pictures on the website as soon as I can- prob. tomorrow. After that we went through a bunch of allies where there was an antique type market. This was another highlight because they had a lot of trinkets from the cultural revolution. We got stuck eating at McDonalds when we realized that no one could talk to us and it would have been impossible to order.

Those have been the main highlights from the past week. There are a lot of things that have happened that I can't blog about (talk to my parents) But we'll just say I'm getting a lesson and its not the one I thought I would be getting. I am learning a lot about how journalism works in China and how I could never live in a place where the media is so controlled and has no code of ethics. I know a lot of chinese journalist are reading out blogs, so I won't say much but it has definitely been a learning experience. I am VERY curious to find out when journalist get over here how much of what is going on now behind the scenes and publicly has happened at other olympics. There are things that I think won't get done or organized in time, but everything could pull together at the very end and look perfect. My venue officially opened today, so there will be a lot of journalist around this week. I'm excited. I've already met a few photo guys from the New York Times who seemed to be very relieved to see an American to help them. I have a feeling I'll get that reaction from a lot of journalists- which won't bother me at all, I'll just remind them all that I need a job starting in January! haha

I have to work tomorrow and Wednesday and will try to update on my off days. We're going to try to camp out thursday night to get somewhere close to the birds nest for the opening ceremonies and then I start working everyday on sat.

Also happy birthday to my Uncle Brian today......I won't say how old he is- but it's a HUGE birthday!!!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!